I chuckled. “Oops. He would’ve taken everything he learned straight back to the coven.”
Carmine’s ire was rising.
I looked at him. “You are interested in my unique brand of power. My value to you is not just in being your mate, but in what I know as a person raised magus. What I know of covens, magus magic, each affinity, barriers, curses, charms. Magus weaknesses and strengths.Thatis invaluable to demon kind in whatever war you’re starting. You have known me since sixteen, Carmine, and so you have irrefutable proof that I think differently from you. I may have learned to get by in this realm by unlocking the instincts of my demon nature, but always in me, there is magus too. A magus who lives by a different code and set of rules. I understand other supernaturals—and have personally interacted with most races in my childhood. Understanding these intricacies took you years of close contact with me, and still, all those intricacies are not your first thoughts when forming an attack or defense. That innate way of thinking is hard to come by. What is my value? What makes me priceless to this realm? My difference. That is something we can bargain for that I cannot retract.”
Carmine’s face was carved from stone. He eventually said, “You could easily mislead demons if you chose.”
“It would not be easy to mislead you. As for the rest… if they have a weakness, it is not my duty to cater to it.”
How very demon of me.
“You expect me to believe that you would give your full aid to demons on this matter?”
“Why not? Unless you are keeping my mother and grandmother in the dungeon, too, then there is nothing more important to me in any realm than my sister. I was not raised in the coven, and though I would not choose to hurt them of my own volition, their survival is in their own hands, not mine. Yes, I would serve the realm fully in this matter and not withhold what I knew or discovered through exploring my power.”
“Your aid must be limited by your lack of familiarity with a coven,” he said.
“A coven is a group of magus. I grew up in a small coven, but a coven nevertheless. The only affinity that my family did not possess was grimoire, which by your admission, is covered by the magus you captured.”
Carmine’s focus hadn’t left me and it didn’t now as silence filled the space between us. “You bargain passionately for this, and I begin to think there is more merit in the mating ritual that you strongly avoid.”
“Carmine, I hate you,” I told him. “In comparison to you, I am very young. But believe me when I tell you that I hate you more than any person or thing or idea I have ever come into contact with. I think you are the most vile, depraved, and repulsive animal in existence. That is why I do not wish to further the mating ritual. To share scale and soul and smoke with you? The idea makes me want to vomit all over this leather sofa. Yes, I am strongly avoiding that fate. If you valued your sofa, you would too.”
Carmine’s chest rose and fell, but he otherwise didn’t show any sign that my words affected him.
He said, “If I am to entertain your proposal, then you would need to sweeten it. The realm is my largest consideration. What you offer, if upheld in the way you describe, is valuable. Though you have grossly underestimated our knowledge of other races. I also seek personal gratification in this deal.”
My insides chilled.
He leaned forward, gaze roaming over my body. “You expect me to demand what, Syera? For you to suck my cock with those luscious lips of yours? Or to get on all fours and accept whatever I give you?”
“Neither would surprise me.”
A chuckle rumbled in his chest. “Deep down perhaps you want me to. I can smell your lust at my words.”
“That lust has nothing to do with me,” I replied.
Carmine set his glass down, then settled his entire attention on me. He was about to test me. “The deal is this: You will take your position in my army and supply everything you know—and all you are yet to know as you discover it—to me and my war council. You will be expected to train with demons using your magus power so that they might learn to kill your kind. You will also complete the next ritual with me as a… gesture.”
His focus intensified, and I gathered that this was the test. He didn’t believe that me turning down the mating ritual was just about hate.
And it wasn’t. I doubted myself too. Part of me that feared the inability to return to myself if I went through more of the ritual. “Why should I do that?”
“Because I have the magus in my dungeon. And because this is not solely a realm matter for me.”
The magus.That’s my fucking sister, you monster.“I’ll consider it.”
“This is the best deal you’ll get, enamai. I suggest you take it.” The ice was gone from his eyes.
Union with the demon king. Marriage. Joining. Whatever everyone wished to call it.
I blanched at just imagining the ceremony. Afterward, our magic would tie together more. Carmine had been open about the ins and outs of mating rituals and provided me books on the topic. After the next ritual, he would be able to feel my location.
That came with its own… impossibilities. “You’ll release my sister immediately.”
Carmine leaned back and closed his eyes. “I think not, Syera. I am not so convinced that you intend to commit to your duties. Show me you are, and I will release her.”
“Or you could put her back in the dungeon if I lapse in my duties,” I snapped.
